Every Kid Needs One of These DIY Robotics Kits

Robots are intimidating, and starting from scratch with them is hard, no matter what age you are. You usually have to learn both hardware and software at the same time to get a robot to do anything cool, and for people without a background in either of these things, surmounting that initial learning curve can be scary. BirdBrain Technologies, a spinoff from Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, has just released a new DIY kit called Hummingbird that promises to make building a robot as easy (and affordable) as possible. As you'd expect, the Hummingbird kit involves both a hardware component and a software component. Let's take a look at the hardware first: We really like the fact that everything's included here, with a clearly marked board and color coded wiring. It's also nifty that the wires just snap in and out, no soldering required, although (to be honest) soldering i...